Man with a Van : My Story (Hardcover)

Drew Pritchard, who has amassed a committed community of fans over 13 series of Salvage Hunters, will go to the greatest lengths for the best deals. As a teenager, he ran an unofficial scrapyard from his parents' back garden. And, later in life, he used to sleep fully clothed in his van at antiques fairs, waking up with icicles stuck to his forehead, bouncing out of the rear doors at the break of dawn to get one-up on his Savile Row-suited competitors.

'When I see something old, that I think is beautiful, special, valuable, it's not about the money. It's about being in another time and place.'

He discovered the casts Lord Elgin made of his infamous marbles in a school garage, and broke the bank to buy the tool box Malcolm Campbell used when he set the water speed record in 1934. He made a million. Lost it. And made it again.

Poster boy for the compulsively fascinating business of finding and restoring lost treasures, visionary Drew takes us in his van, up and down the country, into garages, factories, schools and pubs, digging out incredible items from that 'other time and place'. Then by lovingly repairing them, he brings our history back to life.

A straight-talking flat cap amongst silver-tongued old school ties, our favourite no-bullshit expert may be a one-off, but his story makes us all dream of that obscure piece of antiquity gathering dust in the garden shed...